Phantom Rose

About

Phantom Rose is a single player strategy game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by makaroll and was released on August 7, 2019. It received positive reviews from players.

"Phantom Rose" is a roguelike deckbuilding card game where you play as Reina, a maid exploring a haunted mansion. Carefully manage your card deck and cooldowns to defeat evil creatures, with the goal of collecting over 100 unique cards and items. Each death is permanent, adding a layer of challenge to the exploration and battles.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 382 reviews

gameplay70 positive mentions

monetization3 negative mentions

The game features beautiful art and a charming aesthetic that enhances the overall experience.
The unique card mechanic, where cards are consumed after use, adds a layer of strategy and resource management that sets it apart from other deckbuilders.
The developer is responsive to feedback and actively works on updates and improvements, showing a commitment to enhancing the game.

The balance of the game can be inconsistent, with some builds feeling nearly unusable due to RNG, making it frustrating for players.
The gameplay loop can become repetitive quickly, and the lack of variety in enemy encounters and card options may lead to boredom.
The music can get stale after a few runs, and the overall lack of a compelling story or lore may leave players wanting more.

gameplay
184 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
54%
8%
The gameplay is characterized by a unique card mechanic where cards are removed from the deck upon use, promoting strategic resource management but also leading to balancing issues and potential frustration due to reliance on luck. While many players appreciate the charming art and engaging mechanics, some find the gameplay loop can become repetitive and overly simplistic, despite its initial appeal and addictive nature. Overall, the game offers a fresh take on deckbuilding with a mix of fun and challenging elements, though it may not satisfy everyone due to its inherent flaws.
- “Addictive and fun, with refreshing gameplay.”
- “The music, aesthetic, and interesting gameplay which emphasizes resource management and practicality over brute force and speed killing forces you to be efficient, which is great.”
- “I really like the vanishing cards game mechanic which makes you have to manage your rare cards efficiently.”
- “The gameplay loop becomes boring very fast.”
- “The game is unbalanced as hell; the mechanics of vanishing cards are horrible. By losing cards, I cannot even get to the boss if my luck is bad and must use my cards in the early battles.”
- “This game is a work of art, but the gameplay falls short for one reason: your cards go away after use, making it feel bad to use your good stuff and turning each kill into a prayer to the RNG gods for cards that are just a barrier or attack.”
graphics
108 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
38%
3%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful and charming art style, which features a mix of cute and gothic anime aesthetics. While many players appreciate the vibrant visuals and the attention to detail, some elements, such as certain random events, are criticized for being overly simplistic. Overall, the art and music significantly enhance the gaming experience, making it a standout feature despite some inconsistencies in presentation.
- “The visuals are clearly its strongest point.”
- “You can really tell that the developer is passionate about art because the game is absolutely littered with beautiful artwork.”
- “The art style and UI design are absolutely beautiful, and my only complaint is a bit of balancing issues, but it constantly being improved.”
- “Some elements of the visuals and presentation are reasonably effortful while others are extremely bare, such as random events that are just black screens with a bit of text.”
- “The extreme sexual undertones to the characterization and visual design would be less intrusive and less annoying if this was just an outright pornographic game, and honestly the experience would be more interesting if it was.”
- “Originally, I bought this game knowing that it was flawed simply because I adored the art style and was hoping the dev would one day fix it.”
music
106 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
41%
8%
The music in the game is generally praised for its beauty and ability to set the atmosphere, with many reviewers noting its thematic and mood-setting qualities. However, a common criticism is its repetitiveness, as players feel the limited number of tracks can lead to a stale experience over time. While some enjoy the soundtrack's charm, others suggest that more variety would enhance the overall enjoyment of the game.
- “Not a fan of deck building games, but this one caught me with its art style and music.”
- “I found it while browsing casual games I can play in school without the need of internet or maybe while I am traveling somewhere, and I managed to stumble upon this neat little game with very cute yet amazing art visuals, and don't even get me started on the soundtrack; oh man, is it good! Kudos to whoever made the songs.”
- “The vibes from the game are eerie yet adorable, the music is incredible, and the mechanics are amazing and easy to catch on.”
- “I think the soundtrack gets a little repetitive after a few runs in a row, but it's beautiful nonetheless.”
- “And while the single piano soundtrack goes well with the art direction and story, conveying that elegant yet melancholic vibe, its loneliness unfortunately greatly contributes to the game's static, sleepy feeling.”
- “The uninterrupted music loop not so much.”
story
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
73%
7%
The story in the game is largely criticized for being vague, incoherent, and lacking depth, often feeling like an afterthought overshadowed by gameplay mechanics. While some players appreciate the minimalistic and subtle storytelling approach, many find the narrative disjointed and reliant on external lore that fails to provide meaningful context. Overall, the story is seen as a weak point, with a desire for more substantial content and clearer connections between plot elements.
- “Very impressive art with a multiple playthrough story progression system that doesn't need words to let you understand the gist of what's happening.”
- “The story does a good job at slowly unveiling itself as you play, with the occasional image and short cutscene.”
- “In this industry where so many games are incredibly obnoxious in their narration, such discrete storytelling is refreshing.”
- “Unfortunately, the story is rather vague, unclear, and in the background.”
- “The game immediately opens with an aggressive tutorial that completely breaks the flow of immersion, but the actual story is barely coherent; with random lore documents that either explain nothing or are explanations void of context and thus are tantamount to nothing.”
- “In a game with a just barely passable amount of substance, little visual flair with clearly budgeted presentation and a story so incoherent and superficial it might as well not exist, the clear insertion of sexual bias feels especially shallow and misdirected.”
replayability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
39%
17%
The game is praised for its high replayability, featuring permanent unlocks and diverse gameplay options that encourage multiple playthroughs. Players appreciate the strategic depth and the addition of in-game achievements that enhance the experience, despite some noting a lack of polish compared to similar titles. Overall, it is recommended for fans of cardbuilding and roguelike games seeking extensive replay value.
- “Highly replayable, there's good permanent unlocks to gain using the rewards you get for finishing a run.”
- “Like all good roguelikes, Phantom Rose has great replay value and gives you many options to make your runs even more diverse.”
- “The game might not have Steam achievements, but there are in-game achievements that grant you skins for clearing them; some of them are quite tricky, which further adds to the replay value.”
- “With games like this, I always feel like you add about 100 hours of replayability if you allow people to mod your game.”
- “The game might not have Steam achievements, but there are achievements in-game that grant you skins for clearing them; some of them are quite tricky, which further adds to the replay value.”
- “Still a fun game, get it at full price if the art and easy-to-learn, but replayable gameplay grabs your attention.”
atmosphere
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
43%
19%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its beautiful art and a poignant piano soundtrack that enhances the overall experience, creating a unique and oppressive goth-like ambiance. While many players appreciate the existing music, some suggest adding more varied tracks to deepen the atmospheric impact. Overall, the atmosphere is a standout feature that resonates well with players, even those who typically do not favor card-based or rogue-like games.
- “I'm not really a fan of card-based games and most rogue-likes, but I like this one a lot for the atmosphere it creates with its beautiful art and music.”
- “The art style and feel of the game is wonderful, including the music and the atmosphere of the game.”
- “I'd add a few more tracks with slower tempo, frightening deep tones; it would build a better atmosphere than the unstoppable piano play!”
- “I very unique deck-building game that managed to carve its own special niche in the genre with its all perma-use cards and oppressive atmosphere.”
- “The entire atmosphere of the game has a goth-like style which I really dig.”
monetization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
60%
30%
The game is praised for its lack of in-game purchases, offering a refreshing experience with numerous unlockables. However, concerns exist about the potential for future mobile versions to introduce microtransactions, as the mobile exclusive version was free-to-play and included such features. Overall, players appreciate the absence of monetization tactics in this title.
- “Summary: 24-hour game with no in-game purchases.”
- “Many enjoyed this system much more; however, it was mobile exclusive and included microtransactions as the game was free to play.”
- “I cannot remember the last time I've had the pleasure of playing a game without microtransactions that has this many unlockables, which is a breath of fresh air.”
- “Hopefully it expands the universe for PC and doesn’t just mirror a new mobile version with in-game purchases added in.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and reminiscent of mobile games, with many hours spent on achievement hunting and repetitive tasks. The unhelpful HUD further complicates the experience, making gameplay feel slow and frustrating. Overall, the grinding is seen as a significant drawback that detracts from the enjoyment of the game.
- “Feels like a mobile game for how grindy it is.”
- “This leads to some very slow, tedious gameplay.”
- “Sunk hundreds of hours achievement hunting, arcade grinding, and murdering time (literally and metaphorically) while not listening to my teachers.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a mix of frustration and self-reflection regarding their emotional experience, feeling both challenged and constrained by the game's mechanics. This tension leads to a sense of inadequacy, as they grapple with the desire to play freely while being mindful of resource management. Overall, the emotional impact is characterized by a struggle between enjoyment and the pressure of strategic decision-making.
- “That made me feel like I shouldn't waste some cards, but because of that I wasn't playing how I wanted to.”